State Department grants funds to World Hope International for trafficking shelter

World Hope International (WHI) has been awarded another grant from the State Department to continue its shelter in Freetown, Sierra Leone, for one year.

The $300,000 grant will allow WHI in helping rehabilitate and reintegrate victims of sex and labor human trafficking in the country. For three years now, WHI has run the shelter under State Department funding. This shelter serves the only institutional care in Sierra Leone serving girls who have been labor and sexually trafficked.

“Last year the State Department directly cited World Hope International as the main organization in helping Sierra Leone move from a Tier Two Watch to a Tier Two status on the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report,” said John Lyon, CEO of World Hope International. Tier Two status is a significant improvement.